MORNING JOURNAL/SAM GREENE
Christopher Fowler, 7, works with a set of blocks in his classroom at the Murray Ridge School in Elyria.

ELYRIA -- Those unfamiliar with Murray Ridge School in Elyria would not know the opportunities, activities and the abundance of learning that the students experience. Through the doors comes color, excitement and a friendly staff who are there to teach. Students walk through the halls sharing a hug with a teacher, visitor or a friend. Smiles, handshakes and waves are given out as friends and new friends meet.

Students who attend Murray Ridge School were born with developmental disabilities, but those disabilities do not stop the staff from helping the students grow.

Kristin Dickerhoff, a teacher at Murray Ridge School, prides herself on her "cute students." Dickerhoff also has help from an aide who is employed by a school district in Lorain County. Currently, her students are learning how to cut with scissors and learning the color green.

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Dann Swift, director of education services, said that there are usually a maximum of eight in a classroom, and all of the classrooms have an aide.

"The young kids, we are teaching academics," Swift said. "As they get older, we do more vocational things like getting a job, preparing for a job and proper grooming.

"Our school is so focused, all of these people are focused and want to teach people with disabilities," Swift said.

This month is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month and the 45th anniversary of Murray Ridge Center providing services. The Lorain County Board of Developmental Disabilities officially came into existence in 1968, but services for developmental disabilities were around before that. Murray Ridge serves 2,000 Lorain County residents. It provides early intervention services, adult services, service and support administration, residential services and family support services.

The early intervention program helps families of infants and toddlers access resources to help children reach milestones. Adult services provides vocational training. It also provides job placement and three opportunity/vocational centers that provide full-day services Mondays through Fridays. In service and support, Murray Ridge provides information and referral, emergency intervention and maintains waiting lists for residential services. The residential services provides support individuals need to be safe and successful in their home. Family support services assists families by providing limited funding for equipment and home modifications.

Program Superintendent Amber Fisher said not only do they service toddlers and infants and school-aged people, but clients in their 60s, 70s and 80s. Over the past 25 years since Fisher has been a part of Murray Ridge, she has seen residential services expand. In the 1990s, Fisher said they were able to accommodate more people. It helped reduce the number of emergency situations. An emergency situation could be if a client living at home and their caregiver not being able to provide for them anymore or having died.

Because of budget crunches, it is hard to accommodate those who are in an emergency situation.

"We just don't have the funds for comprehensive care," Fisher said, citing out of home placement for clients who need around-the-clock care. "It's not the same case with everyone, but many do need around-the-clock care."

The early intervention program was fairly new when Fisher came on board and from 2011 to 2012, they have seen a 9 percent increase in toddlers and infants who need the services.

Jeff Miller, director of vocational services, has been at Murray Ridge for 18 years and seen an expansion in community-based work settings. Miller said the vocational services sends a job coach with the clients until the company takes over. A lot of the jobs that the clients do are manufacturing and cleaning. They have cleaned the air traffic control tower windows at Cleveland Hopkins Airport and Crushers Stadium after games. Some clients do clerical jobs such as sorting through paperwork.

At Murray Ridge School, Swift said they are expanding services for those who are autistic with one to two classrooms designed for specifically for them.

"In the autism rooms, we tend to keep the lights on low; we also put more stuff on the walls," Swift said. "There have been studies on colors so we try to bring those in."

The older students also can fill out an application to join "The Crew" and perform jobs such as laundry, recycling and school photography. Emery Nagy, who is 21 and going to graduate this summer, has participated in a lot of the jobs. Nagy has been working with recycling in the school.

"This is our weekly recycling adventure," said Nick Kish, a teacher who helps Nagy be involved with recycling as much as he can. Kish grabbed a pop can and helped Nagy grab it with his hand. Nagy then dropped it into a garbage can.

"He's been working hard all year, Kish said.

During the Lorain County commissioners meeting this week, Laura Rouse brought in her daughter Amira Bahr to celebrate Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Amira was born with a rare genetic disorder called Cri-Du-Chat, also known as 5p Deletion. The disorder is caused by a missing part of chromosome 5.

Rouse said that everyone who interacts with Amira helps her further develop and learn to the fullest.

"You can't imagine the pride I felt a couple weeks ago when her twin brother was playing with her and said, 'Good Job, Amira, big girl,'" Rouse said. "Adam knew she worked hard and deserved praise."

Amira is currently in a playgroup to learn how to interact with peers. Murray Ridge has helped Amira reach so many goals, Rouse said, and it's all been with the help of people with early intervention.

"When you don't know when your child is going to hit a milestone and they reach that goal, the feeling inside is overwhelming," Rouse said. "We've gain knowledge, we've gain hope for Amira's future."